The 2009 CSI Computer Crime and Security survey identified a number of shifts in significant cybersecurity threats this year. Malware infections jumped to 64% from 50%.

There was an almost doubling in the percentage of companies that experienced password sniffing attacks, from 9% last year to 17% this year, along with increase in companies reporting financial fraud from 12% in 2008 to 25% in 2009.

Companies showed a great interest to buy technologies that would help them gain a better view of their security. Tools that would improve log management, security information and event management, security data visualization, security dashboards and the like were high on the wish list.

Protection of their assets, rated pretty low in company IT policies. Half had no formal data destruction policy in place, with around 20% having just an informal policy in place. The percentage of companies encrypting data at rest rose significantly to reach 62%. Other security technologies that increased in popularity included encryption of data in transit, and the use of network access control (NAC).

It is an unfortunate fact of life that every networked computer is a potential victim of computer viruses and malware. Protecting your data and PC equipment is a vital part of any business.

Malware encompasses viruses, Trojans, worms and adware. There are technical differences about the nature of such malware and indeed some are more damaging than others. BotNets get installed onto a PC without your knowledge and takes control of the computer to make it a part of a network spanning the internet. Some of these networks consist of thousands of linked PCs, all controlled by a remote operator. One of the evidence of being infected is often just a slowing of your PC’s performance.

Install and keep up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware software on all computers. Configuring the antivirus and anti-malware to do automatic updates and automatic scans at regular intervals, keeps all computers clean and out of harms way.